Building-block



G. H; TALBOT.

BUILDING BLOCK.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.5,1919.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 17 1921.

Application filed September 5, 1919. Serial No. 321,854.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, Greece H. TALBOT, a citizen of the United States,and resident of Newtonville, county of Middlesex, State ofMassachusetts, have invented an Improvement in BuildingBlocks, of whichthe following description, in connection with the accompanying drawing,is a specification, like characters on the drawing representing likeparts.

This invention relates to improvements in composition building blockconstruction and the principal object thereof is to provide acomposition block which may be readily and economically constructed andwhich can be laid by practically unskilled laborers thereby lesseningthe cost of building construction.

A further object of the invention is to provide composition blocks ofsuch a character that when laid will produce a wall of greater strengthand stability than walls formed of ordinary building blocks.

Another object of the invention is to produce a building block havingmeans to receive the mortor or other bonding material which willavoidthe necessity of troweling when the blocks are laid to form a walland which will avoid mortar staining of the face of the wall.

A further object of the invention is to provide a form of building blockwhich can be laid equally well in winter and in summer. This isaccomplished by providing a building block of such configuration thatwhen a series of courses of such blocks are laid the edge courses ofsaid blocks will rest directly upon each other while the bondingmaterial will be retained in inclosedgrooves or recesses in such amanner that the expansion due to freezing in cold weather will notdisplace the blocks themselves.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel form of buildingblock having preferably a series of air chambers so disposed as toprevent the direct passage of moisture or heat through the block. Afurther feature of the invention consists in providing a building blockwith marginal grooves to receive a pointing comosition which may beapplied before the lock is laid, whereby the excess of pointing materialwill-be squeezed out as the block is laid and a finished joint providedby merely scraping off such excess.

Other objects and features of the invention will more fully appear fromthe followin descrlptlon and accompanying drawing and Wlll be pointedout in the annexed claims.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is an elevation of a corner portion of a wall built of blocksembodying my invention,

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same showing the top faces of the blocks ofa course,

Fig. 3 is an underneath plan view showing the bottom faces of the blocksof a course, 1 1g. 4: 1s an end vlew of two superposed building blocks,and, Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional View through one of the blocks online 5-5 Fig. 3.

The building blocks forming the subject matter of the present inventionmay be all of the same form except corner blocks which are varied fromthe standard form only to present the proper formation to provide forthe corner of the wall.

Each block is provided with a top face having at or adjacent its edgeslongitudinally extending ribs 1, 2 forming a mortar receiving groove 3therebetween, the mortar receiving groove preferably presenting a fiatsurface extending across the major portion of the top of the block.

The bottom face of the block is provided with edge surfaces 4, 5complementary to the surface of the ribs 1, 2 these surfaces preferablybeing fiat. The bottom face of the block'is provided with a projectingcentral portion 6 presenting a surface which is complementary to thesurface 3 of the top of the block. The depth of the central projection 6is slightlyfiless than the depth of the mortar receiving groove toprovide a mortar space 8 therebeneath.

The block is provided with a chamber or preferably a series of chambersextending upwardly from the under face to a short distance from theupper face of the block. As illustrated in the accompanying drawingthree series of such chambers is provided, a central series comprisingchambers 9 and 10 which extend upwardly from the central portion andother series comprisin chambers 11, 12 and 13,14 which exten upwardlyfrom the edge surfaces 4 and 5 respectively. The walls between thechambers 11, 12 and 13, 14 and the central chambers 9, 10, arepreferably arranged inparallelism. The transverse wall 15 between thechambers 10- and 11 is located out of alinement with the wall 16 between'the chambers 9 and 10 and the wall 17 between the chambers 13 and 14out of alinement with either of said wallsso that the passa .e ofmoisture directly through the block w1ll be prevented by the airchambers.

Any other arrangement of air chambers may be provided but in any case itis desirable that the transverse partition walls between the chambers ofeach series shall be arranged in staggered relation. The ends of theblock are provided respectively with projections or tenons 18' andrecesses or mortises 19 which are complementary in form. The length ofthe tenons are slightly less than the depth of the mortises or recessesto provide a vertical mortar receiving space 20. Preferably the ends ofthe block are provided with registering apertures 21, 22

which when filled with mortar will provide a dowel uniting the blocks inthe course.

Inasmuch as the chambers which extend upwardly from the lower face ofthe block terminate short of the upper face of the block, thelongitudinal partition walls between the chambers, which are integralwith ends of the adjacent the upper wall of the block, form an archedconstruction which is highly resistant to the compressive force exertedby. the superstructure of the wall.

Each block preferably is provided on the inner side adjacent its endwith lateral projections or flanges 23, 24 providing between them arecess 25 preferably of sufficient depth to enable gas or water pipes orother construction elements to extend vertically along the wall. Byreason of this construction metallic lathin s 26 may be readily securedto the inner 51cc of the wall by nails or other fastenings driven intothe joints between the adjacent ends of the blocks of the courses. Whereit is desired to provide the wall with lines of pointing, each of theblocks desirably is provided with a marginal groove or crevice 27preferably extending along the upper edge of the face of the block andupwardly across one end of the block. Pointing material may then beplaced in this groove preferably 'before the block is laid, the excessof the pointing material being squeezed out when the block is forcedinto its lace in the course in which it is laid. The excess of mortarthus squeezed out may be scraped off by a trowel or pointer, therebyforming a finished joint.

The corner block 28 may be and is formed substantially in the samemanner as the standard blocks in the side of the wall except that theribs are disposed in part at right angles. to each other as illustratedin Fig. 2 to provide a proper corner.

In laying courses of blocks in accordance with my invention the mortarmay be poured into the mortar receiving groove 3 of the blocks ofonecourse, the blocks of the next superposed course are then placedthereupon and pressed down until the edge surface 4, 5 of the superposedblock engages the surfaces 1, 2 of the block on which they are placed,preferabl no mortar being interposed between sai surfaces. Any excess ofmortar which is in the mortar receiving groove 3 will be forced orpressed up into the chambers in the superposed block and will not becaused to overflow, consequently the danger of motar stains upon thefaces of the blocks which are exposed will be entirely eliminated.

By reason of this construction of the blocks they can be readilyassembled by practically unskilled laborers. Furthermore, inasmuch asthe motar is protected from the action of the air the wall can be laidin the winter quite as well as in the summer since any freezing of themortar will merely cause it to expand upwardly into the chambers.

In thus pouring the mortar into the mortar receiving groove 3 it willalso work down into the spaces between the ends of the blocks and intothe dowel recesses, thereby forming a firm bond between the ends of theblocks of adjacent layers.

The flanges 23, 24 project a sufficient dis tance beyond the bottom ofthe recesses 25 which are located between them to provide a space deepenough to permit plaster which is forced through the lathing to form theusual anchored construction which prevents the plaster from breakingaway from the latter, thus the necessity of employing a furring tosupport the lath is entirely avoided. The lath, wainscoting, or anyother covering can be secured to the wall by nails or other fastenersdriven through it into the vertical joints between the ends of adjacentblocks in the course. The recesses 25 in the blocks make convenientspaces through which gas, water and other pipes may be led beneath theplastering and thus concealed.

It will understood that the embodiment of the invention as disclosedherein is illustrative and not restrictive and that variousmodifications in size, form and construction may be made within the thefollowing claims:

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. A building block comprising a top face having ribs adjacent its edgesforming a mortar receiving groove therebetween, and a bottom face havingfiat surfaces complementary to said mortar receivin groove but of lessdepth, the lower face emg chambered, whereby mortar in said groove whichis displaced by a superimposed block will enter the chamber in thelatter without overflowing from said groove and will serve more spiritand scope of I effectively to bond the blocks of successive courses, andthe flat edge portions of the superimposed blocks will be directlyengaged without the interposition of mortar therebetween.

2. A building block comprising a top face having ribs adjacent its edgesforming a mortar receiving groove therebetween, and a bottom face havingsurfaces complementary to said mortar receiving groove but 01 lessdepth, the block being provided with a central series of longitudinalair chambers extending from the lower face to within a short distance ofthe upper face, and a plurality of series of air chambers in parallelismtherewith cxtending upwardly from the lower face to within a shortdistance of the upper face of the block, the transverse partitionsbetween said chambers being staggered relatively to one another wherebythe assage of heat and moisture through the block will be effectivelyprevented.

3. A building block comprising atop face having ribs adjacent its edgesforming a longitudinall extending mortar receiving mortise there etweenand a bottom face having edge surfaces complementary to said ribs and aprojecting central tenon complementary to said mortarreceiving mortise,the ends of the block being provided respectively with a complementarytenon and mortise, said mortises being of slightly greater depth thanthe length of the tenon to provide mortar receiving recesses, chambersextending upwardly from the bottom face to within a short distance ofthe upper face of the block, the end walls of said chamberscorresponding in contour substantially to the end of the block wherebythe passage of moisture directly through the body of the block will beprevented.

4. A building block presenting a solid upper face having a plurality ofparallel series of chambers extending upwardly from the lower face ofsaid block to within a short distance of the upper face of said block,the upper walls of said chambers and the partitions between saidchambers providing a rigid arched construction.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

GEORGE H. TALBOT

